Absolution
by thegreatwhitewolf
Summary: Currently being rewritten.


Absolution

Disclaimer: Please don't sue me. I don't own the Gundam Wing characters. I do own characters that will pop up later in the story. (Unless otherwise stated in disclaimer.) And trust me, they'll pop up like crazy.

Warning: Drama, angst, epic battle scenes, death, language, and lemon. More warnings to come in later chapters. On with the fic!

Pairings: Right now, they're your standard pairings. 1xRelena 2xHilde 3xCatherine 4xDorothy 5xSally 13xNoin. growls softly But mark my words, the parings will change dramatically. 6 pairings will go in, but none of them will remain the same. Mark my words!

Chapter 1 Uneasy Silence

The war with Marimaia had dramatically come to an end. Everyone was glad that it ended; all the people, Relena, the Preventers, and of course the five Gundam pilots. They were perhaps the ones who were most relieved because they could finally go back to their lives and live like normal people again, except for Heero. He was too used to being the Perfect Soldier that the peace didn't suit him very well. However, the war had not come to an end yet. The endless waltz would resume and with it, the fighting and bloodshed would begin again. No one knew it yet.

It was a year after the end of the 'Marimaia incident' as it was now christened. It was Christmas Eve, when the peace had been disturbed, but at the moment, the peace wasn't being disturbed; it was Heero. He didn't even know why he had chosen to be her bodyguard. He didn't love her and surely didn't want to protect her. But there was no way for him to go back in time and change the past. He had to put up with the future even if it meant spending his future with…gulp…Relena. Scowling, he sat on the edge of her pink bed as she dug through he closet, trying to find a dress to wear to the Christmas Eve party she was going to…the one Heero would be escorting her to…as her bodyguard and no one more. And he had gotten several threats from Zechs, her older brother saying that if he caught the two of them kissing, he'd kill Heero, and he didn't want to be killed by a man only f our years older than him, so was going to try and stay away from her as possible…far away from her mouth. He couldn't abandon her…he was ordered to protect her…not kiss her. He had no intentions of getting close to Relena so Zechs had no reason to worry.

" Which one makes me look better? This one or this one?" Relena asked, holding up two dresses.

" I don't know. Whichever one you want," Heero answered monotonously. Relena sighed.

" You're hopeless," she said, shaking her head. There was a knock on the door and Zechs came into the room.

" Zechs, which one do you like better? This one or this one? I can't decide," Relena asked, holding up the dresses once more.  
_This is exasperating_. Heero thought.

" I like that one," Zechs pointed to the velvet green dress.

" What do you think about it Heero?" Relena asked, holding the dress a couple inches from his nose.

" It's fine," Heero answered.

" Go and put it on Relena," Zechs said. Relena happily bounced into the bathroom and came out a few minutes later.

_I guess it's a pretty dress. And I guess it makes her look pretty, but it still makes her look like a Christmas tree._ Heero thought as Relena twirled around. He mentally scolded himself; he wasn't supposed to think those kinds of things. Relena twirled again, causing the bottom of her dress sail up, revealing her pink underpants. Instinctively, Heero turned his head.

" Let's go Relena," Zechs ordered, pretending that he hadn't seen Relena's 'show'. Both he and Heero knew that it was to annoy Heero and she was doing a damn good job of it too. Heero was dying to take out his gun and just shoot her, but of course, he was forbidden to do that; he'd go to prison. He double-checked that he had his gun and ammunition-just in case and was satisfied to find it right where he had left it. He got to his feet and followed Relena and Zechs out of the room. Noin was waiting for Zechs to be his escort at the party. It was held at the Presidential Residence and there were a lot of important people there. There was most likely to be an assassin, maybe more, some sadistic person who had the idea to rule the world; some power-hungry person. After all, who wouldn't love ultimate power? The Preventers were one step ahead of them, though. They had some of their best agents positioned at the party posing as guests or waiters, agents Heero could spot immediately.

_Obviously the Preventers don't trust the government with throwing a party. They're getting smarter. A party is a perfect place to assassinate someone. I'd better keep my eyes open. _Heero thoughtwatching a Preventer hand a glass of champagne to the President. Heero was bored. He hated parties because being at a party meant that you had to interact with people and that wasn't something he was used to. If the Preventers were here…that meant…Heero glanced around. He spotted the Chinese Preventer and Sally Po easily. They stuck out so easily to him, but he couldn't abandon Relena to talk to them, and he didn't want to talk to Wufei either. They had never really gotten along and Heero liked to keep his distance. He also liked to keep his distance from Relena, but with his job as her bodyguard, it wasn't possible except at night. Suddenly, Heero saw the glint of a metallic object. He was able to identify it as a gun in 3.2 seconds, but he didn't move; he couldn't attract attention to anyone. He waited, holding his breath. He counted to 100 mentally and slowly let out his breath, trying hard to not get Relena's attention. Perhaps he was just a bit edgy tonight. He was jumpy, that's all. The party went on without anyone noticing. Heero turned away, but not fully so he could watch the assassin out of the corner of his eye. At midnight, there came a low whistle. None of the other people could hear it, but Heero sure could. He pretended to ignore it and make the assassin believe that he hadn't heard it. He saw the assassin move into range and all saw.

" Gun! He's got a gun!" Someone shouted. There was a panic. Heero glanced around. He knew better. He knew that the man wasn't the real assassin. He was just a ruse to distract everyone so the real assassin could kill without being seen. At the same moment, in perfect synchronization, two gunshots went off. It was brilliant. One person was placed in the middle of the action to distract the people around the target while another one was hidden and at the same exact moment, they'd fire a shot, one to make the people panic and the other to kill the target. It would sound, as if one gun was being fired, when in reality, there were two being fired. There would be pandemonium, so no one would notice two bullets instead of one. Heero had seen this kind of strategy in his training. Moving fast, he moved in the path of the bullet that was being fired at the target, which in this case, was Relena. As he fell, he pulled out his gun and fired it twice at the real assassin and then turned around and fired twice at her companion. There was pandemonium as the people hurried to leave, including Relena, Zechs, and Noin. Heero fell to the ground, holding his shoulder. He thanked his lucky stars that he had put on his bullet proof vest before coming to the power. He would have been dead if he hadn't worn it; the bullet would have penetrated his heart. Instead of being dead, he felt an aching sensation in his shoulder. The Preventers were all that were left now, trying to find the assassins.

" It's no use looking for them, Chang. They've left," Heero growled. Wufei turned and gasped.

" What are you doing here, Yuy?" he asked.

" I was protecting Vice Foreign Minister Darlian, but she's left with her brother," Heero answered lightly, taking off his dinner jacket and ripping his shirt so that his bullet proof vest was revealed.

"Heh. I should have known that you'd wear that."

"Never go anywhere without it these days. It beats getting shot." He grasped the bullet within his fingers and after grunting with much effort, pulled it out.

" Was it you who fired the four shots?"

" Yes."

" But why four? There was only one assassin."

" You're wrong, Chang."

" What?!"

" I said that you're wrong. There wasn't one assassin. There were two."

" But how can that be? There was only one bullet heading for Vice Foreign Minister Darlian."

" No, there were two bullets. You only saw one, but there were two."

" Explain."

" There were two assassins, placed strategically away from each other so that when they fired in complete synchronization, it would sound like there was only one bullet being fired. And no one would notice that there were two bullets because there would be a lot of pandemonium, and there was."

" But how did you know?"

" Because they're not stupid. They knew that it was too risky to send in just one assassin so they sent in two."

" But how did you know what their plan was?"

" I've seen the strategy used before, in my training."

" They really don't call you the Perfect Soldier for nothing, do they?"

" Have you found anything?" Sally asked, coming over to them.

" The assassins escaped. According to Yuy here, there were two of them. But both got away," Wufei answered. Quickly, Heero explained the strategy to her.

" Brilliance. Sheer brilliance. It was designed to make sure that the job was completed. How did you learn about this strategy?" she shook her head.

" Training," Heero answered lightly.

" You must have had a high level of training."

"I guess."

To be continued…


End file.
